My Favorite Products for Perioral Dermatitis

I have spent a huge amount of time and money researching, buying, and testing products that work for my sensitive skin. It took a long time but, I believe I finally found products and a skin care routine that works for me. It was a lot of trial and error and frustrating at times. So, I thought I would share all the products that work for me in hopes of helping anybody else who is in the same boat as I was!

Hair- The first hair products I used without sodium lauryl sulfate in them were from Acure Organics through iherb. I couldn't find anything in the stores so I bought the Moroccan Argan Stem Cell Shampoo and the Moroccan Argan Stem Cell Conditioner. They smelt heavenly, almost like an almond scent. The shampoo took some time to get used to because when a product doesn't have SLS in it, it doesn't lather and foam up. I would totally buy these products again, I just can't find them in any stores near me, and I'm not a huge online shopper. I also have a leave in conditioner/detangeler from Acure Organics that works wonders (I couldn't find it online but it is in the top middle of the above photo). The second round of hair products I tried were from Yes To. I initially found them at Target but, since then I have seen them at CVS also.

I have tried the cucumber , carrot, and coconut shampoos and conditioners. I love them all. If I had to pick, I think the coconut would be my favorite for hair products. Yes To products are always 95% natural, and free of parabens, petroleum, phthalates and SLS. They certainly fit the bill for what I was looking for. 

Face- When I first shared my perioral dermatitis story, I mentioned Osmia Organics. The woman who owns the company also suffers from PD. I bought the soothing starter set to hopefully gain control over my skin. I really enjoyed these products. The packaging was simple and cute. The scents were really gentle and it felt nice putting ingredients on my skin that I could pronounce and were all natural. I used these products for a while and didn't see a huge improvement in my skin. I stopped using any and all products on my face for about two months per my dermatologists recommendation. When I decided my face needed some treatment I turned to my Osmia products again. When I woke up in the morning after using the soothing starter kit at night, my face completely broke out. My PD looked red, raw and irritated. I decided at that moment, that Osmia products weren't for me, and that's okay! I heard and read a lot of successful stories with women who have PD and Osmia worked wonderful for them. I still use the Black Clay Soap because I love it! I don't use it on my face but, I have Keratosis Pilaris on the back of my arms, and the soap has really helped to keep that at bay. I use it when I shower daily.

Since I love Yes To hair products so damn much, I figured I should give their facial products a shot. I first tried the cucumber line because it is for sensitive skin. I bought the gentle milk cleanser and the soothing daily calming moisturizer. These products were a game changer. The cleanser is so gentle and soft. The moisturizer is hydrating and leaves my skin feeling baby soft. I seriously can't even explain how much I freakin' love these products. I did try the tomato collection, and I don't think I will buy it again. It made my skin feel really dry(probably because its for acne prone skin) and my face was beat red after using it.

Every night I use the cucumber cleanser and moisturizer, and I also use the blueberry eye treatment. The skin under and around your eyes is extremely thin and delicate so I like to make sure I am treating them appropriately. I use the grapefruit scrub weekly as an exfoliator. Can you tell how much I love Yes To products? I was so happy to finally find something that worked for me. I honestly don't think I will buy anything else. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I LOVE YOU, YES TO!

I hate to admit it but, there was one product of Yes To that I just didn't like. It was Cucumber Eye Makeup Removing Pads. They stung my face and kind of burned the area around my eyes. I'm not sure why so I just stopped buying them. I recently bought the Neutrogena Naturals Makeup Remover Wipes. I wanted something that could remove my makeup before I wash my face. These work wonderfully! They are soft, gentle, easily remove all my makeup, and have a fruity citrus smell.

Body- More Yes To products! Are you surprised? I was serious about the whole "If it ain't broke" thing. I love their hair and facial products so much so why not try their body wash? I think I have tried all their body washes and I have nothing bad to say about any of them. Currently right now I am using the grapefruit and coconut. 

Lips- My lips are always dry and pealing. Another wonder of Sjogrens! I also seem to have reactions to all different kind of chapsticks, lip glosses, etc. so I just use the same products I know work for me. I am still on the lookout for a lip product that hydrates my lips so they aren't cracking and pealing all the time. 

   

I always, always have Vaseline on me. I really like the little lip balm. I have one in my purse, my car, on my nightstand, pretty much everywhere. I also recently discovered Kiehls Lip Balm. There's a funny story about this lip balm. My brother and his girlfriend recently moved out and one day when I went into their closet to take some hangers, I happened to stumble across this. I figured they left behind all the stuff they didn't want so I snagged it :) Thanks Jim and Renee! I really do love it. The only ingredients are Petrolatum and Octinoxate, which is a sunscreen. 

Other- 

For me, it is important to use a hand soap without SLS. It just makes sense because if I used a regular soap and then touched my face, I would have a reaction. I found this one at whole foods. 

 

There ya have it! Clearly I have a slight obsession with Yes To products. They have cleared up my PD so much, which makes me hesitant to try anything else. I 100% recommend all these companies and products I have mentioned. I hope they work for you and your skin! 

Question 

• What are your favorite products for Perioral Dermatitis and/or sensitive skin?

How I Manage My Perioral Dermatitis

Since being diagnosed with PD, I have tried so many different things to try and get my skin under control. Whether it was skin care products, beauty products, food, medicines, I felt like I have tried it all. Over the last year and a half, I believe I finally figured out what works best for me and my skin. 

• Change your toothpaste. Ingesting fluoride can cause skin rashes, such as Perioral Dermatitis. You can read more about fluoride here. Simply changing my toothpaste alone had a big impact on my PD that bordered my lip line. Also another tip: brush your teeth before you wash your face! I use Jason's Powersmile Peppermint and I love it. The texture takes a little while to get used to and when I am done brushing my teeth I don't get that overwhelming minty fresh feeling but, it is so worth it.

• Throw away all products with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. SLS is a detergent and a surfactant, which essentially forms a lather. It is found in all products; shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand soap, toothpaste, make-up, the list could go on. I immediately got rid of all my products that contained this ingredient, and when on a hunt to find new products without it. Not only did it drastically improve my skin but, I really love the products I have been using. (I'll be sharing all my products in another post!) Here is more information about SLS.

• Drink up. Water, that is. I'm going to break this down real simple. Skin is an organ, and organs are made up of cells. And cells are made up of water. Without water, organs won't be able to function properly. YOU NEED WATER. If you have PD, your skin is basically screaming at you for hydration. I drink massive amounts of water on a daily basis (the one good thing about Sjogrens!). My skin always feels better when I increase my water consumption, and I am doing the rest of my body a favor because water is a major component for overall good health. 

• Eat with a fork. Okay, this may sound silly but, I am completely serious. Whenever I eat real spicy, hot, sweet, or sour food, my lips and the skin around it become irritated. I didn't eliminate these types of foods from my diet completely because lets be honest, I love me some Franks hot sauce, and a juicy green apple (ok and sour patch kids!). I did start to eat them less and when I ate them, I used a fork instead of directly biting into an apple, burrito, or chicken wing. Basically any food that you would bite into, don't… use a fork. I promise you it will make a difference. 

• Stop touching your face. I struggle big time with this one. It's hard! When you see a pimple, you want to pop it. When you see dry skin, you want to pick it. Just don't. It will aggravate the already irritated PD, making it much worse. Also, where have your hands been all day? Yes, you may have washed your hands with this lovely lavender smelling soap but, guess what? That soap probably has SLS in it. Perioral dermatitis wants to be left alone, so try your hardest not to touch your face.

• Less is more. Let your skin breath every once in a while. We all want to look our best, so we put on make-up every day, and get into a strict skin care routine to ultimately have beautiful glowing skin. When dealing with PD, sometimes it is best to just give your skin a break. Stop using make-up, skin care products, moisturizers, etc, and just wash your face with warm water for a few days. If I feel a flare coming on, I stop putting any and all products on my face and my skin really does thank me for it. 

There ya have it. My top six tips for managing Perioral Dermatitis. I kept tract of things I changed and did to better manage my PD, and these were the modifications that improved my skin. Everyone is different. What worked for me, might not work for you. Be patient, keep track of the changes you make, and take it one day at a time. 

Question

• What changes have you made to manage your PD?
• For friends without PD, what changes have you made to better your skin? 

How It All Began

I really have SO MUCH to say regarding my health and I just want to put it all in one post. However, that would be an extremely long post so please bear with me as I organize my thoughts and hopefully have it all make sense. I figured a good way to start would be to start from the very beginning of how my "Autoimmune Storm" started. Fair warning: this post contains embarrassing pictures of gross skin.

Growing up, I always had beautiful fair skin. My friends would always tell me how they wished they had my clear skin. I never dealt with bad acne, only the occasional random pimples. I never had a strict skin care routine. I bought whatever cleanser was on sale at CVS, and rarely ever used moisturizer on my face. At the beginning of August 2013, I started to get this red, bumpy, raw, flaky skin around my mouth.  At first I didn't think much of it figuring it was probably from the sun.

A month or so goes by, and it didn't start to get any better. A family friend who happens to be a doctor looked at my face and said he believed it was Perioral Dermatitis. He told me about his friend Sarah, who also has PD. I immediately watched her video and read all her blog posts related to PD.  The next day I ordered some of her Osmia Organics Products. I used them religiously, just how the packaging said to. I started to become obsessed with researching everything and anything about PD. As months went by, my skin continued to be the same. It varied day to day what it looked like. Some days I would wake up and it would look almost unnoticeable. Other days it seemed to have gotten increasingly worse overnight. 

              

During this time I changed every. single. product. that I was putting on my face, body, and hair (topic for another post!). In December 2013, I finally reached a point where I needed more information and help. I no longer felt comfortable going outside my house. I was self conscious, embarrassed and basically humiliated with how I looked. That may sound dramatic to some but, it really affected my day to day life.  I made an appointment with a dermatologist… the only problem being was that the earliest appointment was in March. March, people! A whole three more months of looking and feeling like crap. And what would you know, in those three months my skin got SO MUCH WORSE. I hid under hats and scarfs and tried my hardest to cover it up with make-up (which I DO NOT recommend now but, there's no way in hell I was going out in public looking like this). 

               

March finally came around, and the dermatologist tells me pretty much everything I knew already. I had perioral dermatitis, which is a cross between eczema and acne, and it is treated with topical or oral antibiotics and/or steroid creams. I wanted to avoid using steroids creams because everything I researched and read said your skin can get dependent on them, meaning it is likely PD can occur again after treatment with steroid creams. My dermatologist took cultures of my skin and it happened to be infected. This was by far the worst my skin has ever looked and thank god it was during Spring break because if it looked like this when I had school and clinical, there is no way I would have gone. I ended up on antibiotics for two weeks, which cleared up all the disgusting yellow crust but, it did not cure my PD. She also gave me a prescription for Hydrocortisone cream, which I was pretty positive I was not going to use. She advised me to not use anything on my skin; no make up, no soap, nothing. She told me to rinse my face with warm water. I left the appointment thinking, "This lady is crazy. No make-up, no soap, and just water? Doesn't she know I just spent valuable time researching the best products for my skin, and emptying my bank account in the process? I am a poor college student after all!" 

The year 2014 continued to pass and my skin continued to stay the same. Everything I was doing and changing was just not working for me. I eventually caved into using the steroids cream simply because I was in nursing school, where I had presentations, group projects, class and clinical to attend. Not to mention, I am in my early twenties and enjoy having a social life.  It was the best decision I made. My skin finally starting to clear up! I had to be consistent with using the Hydrocortisone cream because if I didn't use it for a day or two, my skin started to flare up. I would put it on at night before I went to bed. If I didn't have class or needed to be anywhere, I would use it twice a day. I carried that damn little tube with me everywhere! I no longer cared about all those articles and blog posts telling me not to use steroids creams because I was finally comfortable going outside of my house without people staring at me like a smashed a tomato around my mouth.

Almost a year  and a half later, my skin looks completely different from all the above photos. It is almost like I have my old beautiful skin back! I found a good balance between using the steroid cream sparingly, and sticking to lifestyle modifications. I want to make it clear that my skin did not get better just because I was using steroid cream. There are a lot of factors that I attribute to how my skin improved, most being medicine I am on for my other autoimmune diseases. However, I did change a lot of my daily routine related to hair, skin, and diet, which played a major role as well. I am really looking forward to sharing all my tips and tricks related to how my skin went from looking like all those above photos to… 

this! If you told me two years ago that I would be sharing a picture of my face without make-up on the Internet I would have told you, you were crazy.

So, in a nutshell that is how my "Autoimmune Storm" began. It has been quite the journey and I learn new things regarding my skin every day.

Question

•  Do you suffer from perioral dermatitis or any other type of skin condition?
• What do you do to manage it?